PTSD & Complex PTSD

Trauma is a physiological (body) state that people experience when something life-threatening happens to them or when they witness someone else in danger. For most people, the feeling passes when the experience is over, but about 20% of people continue to stay in this body state days, months, even years afterward. Sometimes, people feel fine for a long time, then a current event triggers the trauma state, and they feel as if it is happening all over again. This is known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Trauma occurs as a result of accidents, natural disasters, sexual or physical assault, abuse in childhood, involvement in critical incidents for first responders, physical injuries, being a victim of a crime, and even from experiences as a child in the womb when the mother is traumatized. It can happen after a single incident, or it can be the consequence of a series of life events or having grown up in an unsafe environment, known as complex PTSD.

Emotional meltdowns that aren’t about what’s happening in the present moment

Sudden changes in sleeping and eating habits

Using EMDR Therapy and other therapy techniques, we re-establish the body as a safe place to be and a resource. We work to process the trauma in a contained, realistic way that does not overwhelm the client. We then put the traumatic events into context, i.e., “this happened in my past, but it does not define who I am.” Resolving trauma is the equivalent of mentally separating it out from the present, labeling it and filing it away in a filing cabinet.